The present disclosure generally relates to a system to determine the diameter of a conductive core of a wire. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and system that applies a sensing signal to the conductive wire core and moves a pair of wire processing blades toward the wire core to determine when the wire core becomes grounded by the wire processing blades.
Electric wire, which can be used in many different applications, typically includes a conductive wire core surrounded by an insulating sheath. The conductive wire core is typically made from a metallic material that has a generally known diameter. During processing of the electric wire, automated machines are used to cut the wire to desired lengths depending upon the specific application for the wire. In some scenarios, a portion of the electric wire needs to be stripped of the insulating sheath to expose the conductive wire core, such as to attach an end terminal.
Wire processing machines typically include a pair of wire processing blades that move toward each other to either cut or strip the wire as desired. In an application in which the insulating sheath is removed from a portion of the wire, the wire processing blades move toward each other and cut the insulating sheath. However, the wire processing blades remain spaced from each other by the diameter of the conductive wire core to prevent cutting of the wire core.
As can be understood by the above, it is important to know the diameter of the wire core in a processing application in which the insulating sheath is removed, since the wire processing blades must be moved close enough together to sever the insulating sheath without damaging the wire core. Typically, the diameter of the wire core is entered into the wire processing system, which controls the movement of the wire processing blades. If the wire processing blades come too close together and sever the conductive core, the movement of the wire processing blades can be manually adjusted by an operator. However, this step requires additional processing time and often results in wasted raw materials.